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Lil Wayne - The Drought Is Over 5 [Grand Closing]Album Review by:
John Burnett
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
 Who’s hotter than Lil’ Wayne right now? I’ll answer that for you hmmm…nobody. Love him or hate him, few ignore him which is why you’re here to read about him. Wayne has reached, and some would say, surpassed 2Pac-like productivity which allows for a lot of muck up and/or subpar mixtapes from DJ No Name and them. However the Empire picked up where DJ Drama and the Dedication left off putting together some of Weezy’s best outtakes and quality street efforts on their The Drought Is Over series. With four to boot already, The Empire’s set to put the series in retirement with The Drought Is Over Grand Closing.
At the risk of feeling the ire of Wayne zealots everywhere, I regret to inform you that this is by far the wackest installment of The Drought Is Over to this date. Typically the Empire is ahead of the curve as far as putting out newer, more exclusive Wayne tracks than other DJs, yet this go round they chose to pull out some of his dustier unreleased records (some dating back The Carter II). Bad move. At the end of the outdated “I” Wayne even shouts out “C II.” And with the pace of the internet and Hip Hop, in general, a song from 2005 and, perhaps before, tends to show its age with the progression of sound production-wise. “Walk It Off” and “Open Shop” shows similar archaic age with the latter having a feature from Young Money alum, Gotti (of Boo and Gotti fame). Didn’t he disband with Young Money eons ago?
The Empire brings you back to speed on the Bangladesh produced block-beater “Milli.” Noticeably, Cory Gunz who initially ripped this beat to threads is missing (sidenote: I don’t know seems a little like that “4, 3, 2, 1” situation with LL and Canibus back in the day). Even still “Milli” has Wayne at the sharpest he’s been in recent days with lines like “I’m a Young Money millionaire/tougher than Nigerian hair/my criteria compared to your career just isn’t fair” and “what you really want to nah…you don’t really want to do it…/if Hip Hop is dead then I’m the embalming fluid.” Despite Wayne’s few moments of brilliance here and there, there’s a lot of nonsensical blather between the bright spots which is pretty much the story of this mixtape. Then there’s Weezy latest macabre, “Lollipop” which despite my choice of words is not as bad bloggers would have you believe. It’s more a case of poor execution then anything. The melodies are on point but the vocoded-out vocals are not. But, I suppose, it fits with the bubble-pop direction rap is going in. The mixtape concludes lazily with Weezy making features on Glasses Malone’s “Certified,” Trina’s “Single Again” and Wale’s “Nike Boots” none of which can save this tape. To add injury to insult, there’s “Stunt When I See You” which features Bow Wow. Need I say more…
The Drought Is Over: Grand Closing ends up being just like those other DJs’ mixtapes; a mash-up of features and shotty tracks that never made any of his albums which is not typically the Empire’s M.O. Honestly, I could’ve lived without wasting this sixty or so minutes of my life and I’m actually a big fan of Wayne’s. I pray this isn’t any indication of what the Carter III will be. If so, Wayne's status as the hottest rapper may soon be coming to an arctic chill really soon.
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